As described in JP Publication of Application No. 2000-214928 (Patent Document 1), in semiconductor substrates processing factories and automated factories with factory automation (FA) systems etc., article transport facilities are in practical use in which articles are transported by article transport vehicles that can travel automatically (autonomously) along tracks. In such facilities, a number of article transport vehicles are commonly used, giving rise to a possibility of physical contacts between the article transport vehicles. In addition, there is a possibility that people and objects may come near the tracks along which the article transport vehicles travel. Therefore, the article transport vehicles of Patent Document 1 have an obstacle detection sensor for detecting obstacles, such as other article transport vehicles, humans, and other objects. In Patent Document 1, object detection sensors for detecting objects and a human detection sensor for detecting humans are mounted in the article transport vehicle. In locations where the object detection sensors become too sensitive, the article transport vehicle turns off the object detection sensors, keeping only the human detection sensor in operation to secure the safety of persons while reducing the occurrences of misdetections of obstacles.
By setting proper detection conditions as described above, obstacles that exist near an article transport vehicle can be detected with proper sensitivity. However, the detection conditions may become no longer proper because of changes in the operation conditions of an article transport facility such as alteration of the layout of a factory, and moving of objects installed near the tracks, etc. Therefore, it is preferable that setting of the detection conditions can be changed flexibly. Generally, such sensors are configured to be capable of being connected to an adjusting device, a computer, etc. through cables. The change in the setting of the detection conditions can be done by connecting such a cable to each sensor, for example. However, sensors for detecting obstacles are mounted in each article transport vehicle; so, when the article transport facility has many article transport vehicles, the total number of the sensors that need to be adjusted increases correspondingly, which leads to a large amount of time required to set the detection conditions for all the sensors.